MovieChat Forums > He Walked by Night Discussion > interesting , beautiful, appealing

interesting , beautiful, appealing

posted 10 years ago by LTUM
3 replies | jump to latest

i was fairly blown away with this one. it caught me by surprise.

i thought the photography was excellent. the use of shadows etc somebody really went the extra mile. the tone of the film was okay, i thought it captured well the urban feel even for 1948. it was kinda like a B/W precursor for michael mann's heat' in some ways

i think the character dev was quite low. i found myself wanting to know more about them only to be left hanging. but, eh, if it was intended as a docu style then that may not be that necessary anyway.

i liked it very much.

i guess the most surprising thing was the date, made in 1948. seemed like it was from 20 years later, technically. (like i said, a precursor to mann's thief or heat, sans tangerinr dream lol)

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Once there was a Hushpuppy, and she lived with her Daddy in the bathtub.

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

the use of shadows etc somebody really went the extra mile.

Very reminiscent of The Third Man, which it actually pre-dated.

i think the character dev was quite low.

That's the major failing of this interesting little film. The central character is this fascinatingly drawn crim, but with virtually zero exploration of his character and motivations. He invariably perishes in a hail of bullets and that's the end of the film.🐭

[–] LTUM 9 years ago

well said

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[–] FilmNoirFanVA 9 years ago

i was fairly blown away with this one. it caught me by surprise.

i thought the photography was excellent. the use of shadows etc somebody really went the extra mile. the tone of the film was okay, i thought it captured well the urban feel even for 1948.

Yes, the cinematographer, John Alton, was an absolute genius with 'painting light'... In fact, he wrote the book on it (it's still used today in film schools, I believe) and others have been attempting to replicate his style for years; he was truly a master!

Pretty much anything he was involved in has a certain look to it and I'm of the opinion that his work saved many pictures from being nothing more than little remembered b-flicks; as far as I'm concerned, anything with his name attached is certainly worth viewing.